Bitcoin Is A ‘Typical Bubble’ – Billionaire Investor George Soros

Billionaire investor George Soros, age 87, said that bitcoin is a misnomer and is a typical bubble.

As of December 2017, Soros had a net worth of $8 billion, after donating $18 billion to his philanthropic agency, Open Society Foundations. Soros is the chairman of Soros Fund Management, the primary adviser for the Quantum Group of Funds. He is also a political activist who donates to numerous liberal causes, including Black Lives Matter.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Soros said bitcoin is not a currency, because a currency is supposed to be a stable store of value.

“Bitcoin is a misnomer and is a typical bubble, which is always based on some kind of misunderstanding,” he said. “A currency that can fluctuate 25% in a day can’t be used, for instance, to pay wages, because wages drop by 25% in a day. It’s a speculation.”

Soros added that he believes the cryptocurrency’s primary appeal is “for tax evasion” and “the rulers of dictatorships.”

“Normally when you have parabolic curve, eventually it has very a sharp break. But in this case, as long as you have got dictatorships on the rise, you will have a different ending, because the rulers in those countries are going to turn to bitcoin to build their nest egg abroad,” said Soros. “So I expect, instead of an abrupt break, to have a rather flat top over. But it’s nevertheless a typical bubble, which is always based on a misunderstanding, like the tulip mania.”

While Soros is not a fan of bitcoin, he thinks blockchain technology can be put to positive use. “We use it, actually, in helping migrants to communicate with their families and to keep their money safe and to carry it with them,” he said.

Last fall, Soros’ Open Society Foundations awarded a $100,000 grant to the Center for Human Rights Science at Carnegie Mellon University, which is exploring blockchain to record rights violations and atrocities.

Earlier this month, Quantum Fund exercised a $100 million dollar warrant and bought Overstock equity. Of the $100 million Overstock received, $20 million will be used to fund a blockchain property rights project.